Bijlmer: City of the Future, Part 1

The Bijlmermeer (which is the official name) is a collosal failure. It&#x27;s the closest thing to a ghetto that the Netherlands has. The city has sunk massive funds into attempts to improve things with some very limited effect. In the end the decision was made to tear down a large number of the flats (in one part aided by a cargo 747 that crashed right on top of one of the flats), but even that could not get rid the area of its stigma.<p>If you want to read more about it the wikipedia page (in Dutch) has a ton more information:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nl.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bijlmermeer_(Amsterdam)" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nl.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bijlmermeer_(Amsterdam)</a><p>The last few years have seen things improve a bit, but it is nowhere near an integral part of Amsterdam, and the only reason people live there is because it is cheap or they have nowhere else to go (such as: Almere, Hoofddorp, Zaandam, Lelystad, Hoorn and Purmerend which are the other satellite cities of Amsterdam attracting the people the original Bijlmermeer was intended to house).

If this topic interests you, read about the development of &quot;Plan West&quot; (+6000 houses) and &quot;Plan Zuid&quot; (+2000 houses) both in Amsterdam.<p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.indonesia-investments.com&#x2F;about-us&#x2F;who-we-are&#x2F;our-history&#x2F;item300" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.indonesia-investments.com&#x2F;about-us&#x2F;who-we-are&#x2F;ou...</a>?

Architecture here is held up as the core issue, but close examination shows design isn&#x27;t even relevant. This complex in the Netherlands was not connected to transportation and became host to concentrated poverty which we now know is socially toxic. Pruitt Igor receives mention, but it was intended from the start to host concentrated poverty and was built so cheaply that it was falling apart when first residents moved in and proved to be impossible to maintain.<p>Just one interesting contrasting development is the Barbican in London which is not only a dehumanizing tower complex but also built in the now largely disliked Brutalist style. The Barbican has all of the design flaws called out and yet is a popular, fully occupied, and highly desirable success.<p>If you want to have a meaningful impact on design then you will have to stop lying about concrete tower block development.

For those not from the Netherlands (and since the second part of the article is not out yet). The Bijlmer was struck by a disaster known as the &#x27;bijlmerramp&#x27; (dutch for: Bijlmer disaster) in 1992 when a 747 cargo plane crashed on one of the structures.<p>See [0] (Dutch) and [1] (English):<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nl.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bijlmerramp" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nl.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Bijlmerramp</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;El_Al_Flight_1862" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;El_Al_Flight_1862</a>

I really love 99% Invisible podcast. Fantastically executed stories.

I&#x27;m really not a fan of this architecture. I think it would be pretty depressing not to have a clear view over the horizon in <i>some</i> direction.

I’ve lived in the Bijlmer for two years and had a wonderful time. The streets are clean, has great restaurants and the people are warm, kind and generous (within a few days neighbors dropped by with delicious leftovers of a birthday dinner as a welcome gift). I never experienced any trouble or felt unsafe while I lived there. Perhaps people perceive it to be a failure because the majority of inhabitants happen to be black.